Boston Scientific Corp. continued its journey down the acquisition highway with its announced plan to acquire stroke products maker Silk Road Medical Inc. for $27.50 a share, or approximately $1.16 billion.
The adverse effects of PD-1 blockers on the CNS observed in cancer patients could occur through their effects on an enzyme that activates microglia. Pharmacological inhibition of the enzyme in mice reduced microglial activation and cognitive deficit without altering the antitumor capacity of the immunotherapy.
Disappointing top-line data from two failed phase III studies of soticlestat for Dravet syndrome (DS) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) have crumpled the stock of co-developer Ovid Therapeutics Inc., which lost three-quarters of its value June 17.
Siemens Healthineers AG has received CE mark for a neurofilament light chain assay to help with the early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and aid in predicting the risk of relapse in patients suffering from the disease. The test developed in collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG will be launched in Europe later this year.
Addex Pharma SA has divulged metabotropic glutamate mGlu7 receptor negative allosteric modulators reported to be useful for the treatment of pain, ear disorders and neurological disorders.
Genescience Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has identified melanocortin MC4 receptor antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of cachexia, anorexia nervosa, nausea and vomiting, sarcopenia, neuropathic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and muscle and bone disorders.
Just as it is for terminally ill cancer patients, time is of the essence for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, the clinical meaningfulness of Eli Lilly and Co.’s donanemab is the time it gives patients before the disease progresses, Reisa Sperling, a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told the U.S. FDA’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee June 10.
Samsara Therapeutics Inc. has described autophagy inducers reported to be useful for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Following a phase II/III failure, Stamford, Conn.-based Cara Therapeutics Inc. discontinued its only pipeline program, that of oral difelikefalin for moderate to severe pruritis in adults with notalgia paresthetica, placing the company’s future in question.